Whatever It Takes
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: Weirdmageddon was over and done with, but Dipper is still haunted by the thoughts of what could have happened.


**A/N: This was a story request, and I sincerely hope that I did it justice. I hope you enjoy reading it.**

 **I don't own Gravity Falls or even the idea behind this fic, I'm just the teller of a story.**

* * *

 _This was a nightmare. A freaky, hellish nightmare that Dipper desperately wished he could wake up from, but he couldn't, because he wasn't asleep. This wasn't a dream, this was reality. Bill had taken over Gravity Falls, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world followed._

 _Dipper had seriously believed that they could do it. They had been_ so _close too. One little mistake though had completely ruined things and possibly_ doomed the whole planet! _Dipper tried not to blame his Grunkle's for this situation, because it wasn't their fault that they were Pines' and thus had the Pines family stubbornness in their blood, same as he and Mabel did. Their stubbornness was always getting them into trouble._

 _Although Dipper didn't believe that any other Pines in history could claim that their stubbornness had literally caused the end of the world. No, that was definitely a new one._

 _Even after this whole Weirdmageddon stuff happened Dipper still hadn't believed that they were defeated. He hadn't given up. Not when the journals had been destroyed. Not when Mabel had been trapped in a fantasy prison. Even when the weird zodiac thing ended up failing Dipper still didn't give up hope. He just_ knew _they could defeat Bill. They_ had _too!_

 _Now though, he was starting to think that maybe this really_ was _the end. The townsfolk had been captured. Their Grunkles were trapped, and he and his sister were currently being clenched in Bill's fist as he considered which one of them to kill._

 _Dipper and Mabel were both struggling as desperately as they could to get out of Bill's grasp, but it was no good. His grip was too tight. Any attempts to break free only motivated Bill to tighten his grip even more, which Dipper hadn't thought was possible. He felt like he couldn't breath, though Dipper wasn't entirely sure if that was just because the air was being squeezed out of him, or if it had something to do with the fact that Bill was going to_ kill one of them!

 _A part of Dipper was scared out of his wits because he_ didn't want to die. _He was only twelve, for Pete's sake! He was too young to die! Still, a louder part of him hoped that he_ would _be the one that Bill chose to kill, because maybe then Mabel would be safe. And then there was the annoying hopeless part of him that didn't believe that it mattered who Bill decided to kill because they would both end up dying anyways. Bill had won. He was going to take over the world, and everybody was going to die._

 _Dipper's thoughts were running a mile a minute and he felt like he was going to pass out. Bill was taunting them again, or possibly threatening them. Then again, this was_ Bill _so it was very likely that he was doing both. Every time Bill blinked the symbol in the middle of his eye switched, and each time it did so Dipper felt like his heart stopped beating._

 _Pine tree._

 _Shooting star._

 _Pine tree._

"Wait!" _Mabel's desperate, pleading voice cried out and Dipper was sure he felt his heart stop at that moment. It was like the world stopped. Everybody, not just Dipper, stared at Mabel, but the only one she was paying any attention to was Bill._

" _P-pick me." Mabel stammered, but Dipper had still never heard her sound so sure of herself. Mabel's eyes were overflowing with tears, and yet were still filled with confidence. It absolutely broke Dipper's heart. "P-please, kill me. Just...just don't hurt my brother."_

" _Mabel." Dipper's voice cracked horrifically on that one word, but he couldn't care less. It didn't matter that he was going through stupid puberty, all that mattered right now was that Mabel was wanting to sacrifice herself to save him, and that was_ not okay! _Dipper wanted to tell her that she was being insane, to draw Bill's attention away from his sister, but he couldn't. Dipper's voice just wasn't willing to cooperate. He couldn't say_ anything.

 _He couldn't freaking breath._

 _Before Dipper could try to figure out how to get his voice to work properly again Bill had apparently made up his mind. Bill was staring at Mabel so maliciously and Dipper knew that if he had a mouth he would be smirking right now. At that moment Dipper knew that Bill was going to take Mabel up on her offer._

 _Dipper couldn't let that happen._

 _But there was nothing he could do to stop it. Before Dipper could even_ say _anything one of Bill's hands came swooping in to grab Mabel, and just her. Dipper reached out toward his sister but a moment later he felt the pressure on him lessen and suddenly he was falling. Bill had dropped him._

 _Dipper landed on the ground harshly which knocked what little air he did have right out of him. Dipper lay there on the ground for a moment, hurt, dazed and feeling like he couldn't breath. Dipper's ears were ringing and he couldn't tell if it was from the impact or his panic._

 _After a minute the ringing had died down enough that Dipper could hear his grunkles crying out, and they sounded as desperate and afraid as he felt. Dipper used his arm to lift himself just in time to see Bill lift his hand, snap his fingers, and-_

* * *

"Noooo!" Dipper shot awake with a shout. He was gasping for breath and sweating like crazy. Dipper curled his legs close to his chest and clenched at his hair with his fingers. He could still feel himself shaking, and his heart was beating a mile a minute. A feeling of terror was still within his chest, but it was slowly beginning to die down as Dipper's mind realized that it had just been a nightmare. A horrible, _horrible_ nightmare, but he was awake, and it was gone now.

...Wait a second. He was awake. The nightmare was over! Dipper let out a short laugh of relief as he remembered that it wasn't just his dream nightmare that was over, but the real life nightmare too. Weirdmageddon had ended. Thanks to Grunkle Stan they had been able to defeat Bill and they had all made it out of the crazy end of the world alive.

Yes, they had all escaped with their lives, but it had been close. Dipper felt his blood chill as he remembered just how close it had been. What had happened in his dream had been what had happened in real life, for the most part. Mabel really _had_ volunteered to die to save Dipper, which he still felt sick to his stomach to think about, but Grunkle Stan, disguised as Great Uncle Ford at the time, had interrupted Bill before the deed had been done.

If it wasn't for Grunkle Stan, Mabel would be…

Dipper whimpered and curled in tighter on himself. His fingers were clutching at his head so tightly that he could feel his fingernails digging into his head. Dipper closed his eyes tight and tried to get the image of Mabel, of his twin _sister_ , hurt, dying or dead out of his head. If anything though closing his eyes just made the images all the more clearer.

He had to make these images go away somehow. Dipper opened his eyes and quickly glanced around the attic bedroom that they shared. He could see Waddles asleep on Mabel's bed, but his sister wasn't there. Dipper felt his breath quicken once again and he felt like he was just seconds from either hyperventilating or passing out when he heard the door squeak open.

"Gaah!" Dipper practically leapt a foot into the air, startled by the sound. Unexpected noises always scared him, but especially in the middle of the night when he was already feeling paranoid. Dipper turned to the door, his eyes wide in panic. He half expected to see nothing there (the door did sometimes have a tendency to open up on its own) and half expected to be greeted by some sort of monster (that sort of thing was normal in Gravity Falls). What he saw instead was something he hadn't expected, and honestly should have because it really was the most logical possibility.

"Mabel!" Dipper laughed in relief, both because he wasn't in any danger and because he now knew for sure that his sister was safe. Dipper leaped off his bed and ran to go greet (or hug) his sister, only to trip and fall flat on his face when he was halfway across the room.

The was a moment of silence before a slight giggle was heard. "Dipper, are you okay?" Mabel came over and helped Dipper to his feet. Dipper's face flushed in embarrassment as Mabel tried and failed to show her amusement.

"I'm fine." Dipper muttered. "I-I just…" Unable to restrain himself anymore Dipper threw his arms around his sister and just held her, assuring himself that she was indeed there, safe and alive. Mabel was thrown off by the sudden show of affection but she quickly returned the embrace.

"Okay, not like I'm one to refuse spontaneous hugs, but what's the deal?" Mabel asked as she pulled away from Dipper so she could look at him. "This isn't like you."

"I know." Dipper looked at the ground, unsure how to explain the motive behind the random hug, and what he was doing awake in the middle of the night. Fortunately he didn't have to explain, because Mabel knew him well enough to recognize the little signs to what was going on.

"You had a nightmare too, huh?" Mabel asked.

Dipper sighed. "Yeah, I...wait." Dipper furrowed his brow. "Too? You also had a nightmare?"

Now it was Mabel's turn to flush in embarrassment. She began fiddling with her hair, which she occasionally did when she was nervous or upset, though she really didn't have to. Mabel had nothing to be ashamed of. So what if she had a nightmare? After the experience they just went through Dipper doubted there was a single person in the whole town who _didn't_ suffer from nightmares.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dipper asked hesitantly, because he really wasn't sure. Sometimes talking about this sort of thing helped to get it off their chest, while other times it just put the idea fresh in their mind, forcing them to think about something they wanted to forget about.

Mabel was quiet for a minute before she sighed and just said two words. "Grunkle Stan." Nothing more needed to be said, because Dipper knew exactly what she was talking about. Mabel must have had a nightmare about Grunkle Stan not getting his memories back. It had been a fear that all of them had had, and in some ways still did have, because while Grunkle Stan was starting to remember things again, the process was slow, and what if he didn't remember everything?

"Were you checking on him?" Dipper asked, though he already knew that that was exactly what she had been doing.

"Yeah, he was asleep though." Mabel said. "They both were. I think they're okay." She shrugged and the look in her eyes quickly changed. Dipper knew immediately that she was done talking about her own nightmares and worries and was turning her attention to his instead. "What about you?"

"I, uh," Dipper tried to think of what to say. Does he just tell Mabel that is was just a memory nightmare? Should he say that he didn't remember it? Should he just tell the truth? Finally Dipper sighs and quietly says "It was about you, and what you said, and what B-Bill almost _did_." Dipper could feel his hands shaking so he clenched his fists.

"Why...why did you say that?" Dipper muttered as he blinked back tears because he absolutely refused to cry, not now. He didn't want to get upset, he wanted stinking answers! "Why would you want Bill to...to…" Dipper couldn't even say it now. Fortunately (or unfortunately, Dipper wasn't entirely sure) Mabel understood.

"Because I couldn't let him hurt _you_." Mabel said, but Dipper shook his head because he _knew_ that that couldn't be all. There was something more that Mabel wasn't telling him. Some other reason behind what she had done. And by the way that Mabel was now avoiding his gaze, she knew that he knew there was more.

Mabel sighed and went over to sit down on her bed. Mabel picked up Waddles (Ignoring his protesting squeals at being woken up unexpectedly) and squeezed him tightly. Mabel sniffled slightly and buried her face against Waddles neck. Dipper hesitantly went over at sat down on the bed next to Mabel.

"What's going on?" Dipper asked.

"I couldn't let him hurt you." Mabel repeated softly. "I don't know what I would do if he did, because...because it would have been my fault." That last part was barely audible and Dipper was sure that he must have misheard, but he had the sick feeling in his stomach that he hadn't.

"Your fault? How would it have been your fault?" Dipper asked.

"Bill never would have gotten his hands on the snow globe rift if it wasn't for me." Mabel said in small voice that just wasn't like her. "I almost caused the end of the world."

"You can't blame yourself." Dipper insisted. "It was all Bill's fault. He tricked you."

"I shouldn't have fallen for his tricks." Mabel said. "I was just so scared, and upset, and-"

"And Bill took advantage of that." Dipper cut in. "It's what he's good at. He tricked me, and Great Uncle Ford. He knows just how to get into a person's head. Bill was a master of deception. You shouldn't blame yourself for falling for his tricks when almost everybody else would do the same."

"I know." Mabel said. "I still feel lousy about it, and I wanted to make up for it. I had ruined everything, and I just felt like I had to make everything better again."

Dipper sighed. "I get it." He said, because he really did. Dipper too often felt the need to clean up after his own mistakes, and to do it on his own, and he knew that Great Uncle Ford was the same way. The thing was, all the stuff that happened during Weirdmageddon had taught Dipper something. That while they should take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences, they didn't have to handle things by themselves. They had family to help them, and friends. They just had to learn how to accept help.

This was something that not just Dipper or Mabel had to learn how to do, but all of them, and it was hard. To admit that you on your own just aren't good enough sometimes.

Dipper didn't want Mabel to blame herself for what had happened, but he knew that nothing he said would get her to change her mind. He knew this because he felt the same guilt. While Mabel blamed herself for giving Bill the rift, Dipper blamed himself for chasing her off and making her feel like that deal was the only way for things to be okay.

They weren't the only ones either. Dipper knew that Great Uncle Ford blamed himself for this whole mess by building the portal in the first place. And knowing Grunkle Stan he probably thought that he was the one who screwed everything up by not taking Great Uncle Ford's hand and completing the zodiac.

In all honesty though, all of them were partially to blame for letting their pride and selfishness cloud their better judgement and letting Bill mess with their heads. But while they were all to blame, none of them were, because Bill had orchestrated this whole thing. They had just made the mistake of playing right into his hand.

A mistake that nobody was ever going to make ever again.

Dipper sighed and got to his feet. He didn't think there was anything he could do right now to help Mabel not feel so guilty. This was a pain that would need lots of time to heal, and it wasn't just an overnight thing. In fact, Dipper believed that this pain and guilt might stick with them for the rest of their lives. The best thing they could do though was live with it and move on.

Tonight though his goal was to get Mabel to not be so upset. It was one thing to be feeling guilty, and another to be wallowing in self-pity and sorrow. Dipper grabbed Mabel's arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on." He said. "Time for nightmare food." Mabel actually gave a small smile at those words. Back at home whenever one of them would have a nightmare they would go into the kitchen and have a late night snack of hot chocolate. It was their ultimate comfort food, though Mabel insisted on calling it nightmare food, since they always had it after one of them had a nightmare.

"With sprinkles?" Mabel asked quietly.

"Of course with sprinkles." Dipper assured her, which got her actually smiling a true blue smile. Mabel put Waddles back on her bed, giggled when he snuggled closer to her unicorn stuffed animal (which Mabel had proudly horribly disfigured just a few days before), and followed her brother downstairs.

The two of them tried to be quiet and sneaky about it because they didn't want to wake their grunkles, but every time a floorboard squeaked or one of them stumbled they burst into a storm of giggles and whispered hushes. By the time they got downstairs and into the kitchen Dipper and Mabel agreed that they wouldn't make very good ninjas.

Dipper got to work making the hot chocolate while Mabel went around grabbing the little sugary things that each of them like to have on top. Whipped cream and sprinkles for Mabel, and mini marshmallows for Dipper. The two of them thought that they were being at least somewhat quiet, but apparently they hadn't realized just how noisy they were being because just as the water was getting hot their grunkles came wandering into the kitchen, probably drawn in by the noise they were making.

Great Uncle Ford took one look at the children, still in their pajamas and looking wide awake and yet tired at the same time and immediately knew what was up. "Let me guess. Nightmares?"

Dipper and Mabel nodded timidly. Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes and just grabbed two more mugs for him and his brother. Mabel grinned enthusiastically and immediately dragged Grunkle Stan to the table to sit by her so she could interrogate him about what he had remembered since the last time they had spoken just a few hours before. Grunkle Stan acted annoyed by the questions, but Dipper could tell that he was pleased with the attention.

Great Uncle Ford took over the task of making the actual hot chocolate. He filled four mugs and brought them to the table while Dipper carried over the different toppings. Mabel quickly grabbed the can of whipped cream and sprayed so much on her hot chocolate that her mug was now overflowing. Mabel then piled as much sprinkles as she could fit on it before deciding it was good enough. Mabel's drink by this time looked like a sugary mess, and Dipper was sure that it would just make her nightmares worse, but hey, who was he to judge?

Dipper took his own mug of hot chocolate and put a half a dozen mini marshmallows in it, as well as some milk to cool it down. Grunkle Stan also added marshmallows, though much more than Dipper did. He had so many marshmallows that Dipper could barely see the chocolate underneath. If Great Uncle Ford's exasperated yet fond sigh was anything to go by Dipper guessed that this was normal for Grunkle Stan, and probably had been since the two of them had been kids.

Great Uncle Ford took the remaining mug and, like Mabel, sprayed whipped cream on top, though he got nowhere near as much as she did. And instead of sprinkles Great Uncle Ford used cinnamon, which actually looked pretty good. Dipper decided to try out hot chocolate in that way one of these days.

Dipper wasn't sure how long the four of them just sat in the kitchen doing nothing but talking. There didn't even seem to be a pattern in their discussions, they just jumped from one topic to another because the conversation itself was not what mattered, their company was. After some time Mabel ended up falling asleep, leaning against Grunkle Stan as a strange sort of pillow. Grunkle Stan ended up falling asleep shortly after Mabel did, his arm drawn protectively over her small shoulders as he held her tight.

Dipper and Great Uncle Ford spent some time after that having whispered conversations about anomalies and what the two of them would be doing in the future. It was during this conversation that Dipper decided to not accept Great Uncle Ford's apprenticeship after all. He just wasn't ready to leave his family in Piedmont. Not yet.

Great Uncle Ford had been more than understanding of Dipper's decision. In fact, he mentioned his plans of asking somebody _else_ to be his partner on his quest to find more anomalies and solve mysteries. Dipper caught Great Uncle Ford looking at Grunkle Stan when he said this, and he immediately knew who he was talking about.

It just made sense that Dipper wanted to go home with Mabel while Great Uncle Ford wanted to go out with Grunkle Stan. After all, both Dipper and his Great Uncle Ford had so nearly lost their twin and only now realized just how much that bothered them. Neither of them was ready to say goodbye, so they wouldn't.

Dipper looked at mabel as she slept peacefully and his chest ached at the thought of 'what if?' He had very nearly lost her forever, but he hadn't. Dipper knew that there were some ill feelings still, things that they needed to talk about, same with Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford. Things weren't perfect between any of them, but things were okay.

And right now, Dipper believed that okay was wonderful. Especially since he believed that it would only get better from there.


End file.
